A newlywed bride is now a widow in mourning after her husband died of cancer just 12 days after their wedding.

Paul Smith, a much-loved high school band director in Pinecrest, Florida who had dedicated his life to teaching music and investing in his local community, passed away on October 18 after a six-month battle with cancer.

Despite his devastating diagnosis in April and the fast spreading disease, Smith, 48, and his fiancee Lisa Judy decided to tie the knot on October 6 to spend his remaining days as man and wife.

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Bittersweet: The beloved band teacher Paul Smith (center) married Lisa Judy (right) at a ceremony on October 6, with her son Wade (left) also attending. Smith, 48, passed away just 12 days after the wedding

Newlyweds: Though the groom was frail, his sickness couldn't stop him from celebrating with his new bride Lisa Judy at their wedding on October 6

Smith received the devastating cancer diagnosis in April, after a night out with his fiancee and her son at a concert, when he became short of breath.

Two days later doctors told him they discovered cancer in his kidneys and said they believed the cancer had metastasized.

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After 15 years on the faculty of the Miami Palmetto Senior High School, he resigned to undergo treatment but despite the chemo and multiple surgeries, his friend and fellow musician, Thom Proctor, told the MailOnline that Smith kept a positive outlook.

'He kept a good attitude, he kept fighting. He was that way his whole life,' Proctor, who directed Smith in their church brass ensemble, said.

Lover of music: Paul Smith spent 15 years leading the band at the Miami Palmetto Senior High School

Proctor attended Smith's nuptials, which were planned in less than three weeks, this October

Describing the affair as 'so joyous,' he said the groom 'had the biggest grin on his face in the wheelchair.'

'We were all hoping that he would get through. At the wedding, he was doing pretty well,' but Smith took a turn for the worse and entered hospice and passed away on October 18.

His bride, who is also a teacher, had been widowed before when she lost her first husband to cancer in the late nineties. When she learned of Smith's diagnosis, she took a leave of absence from her job to care for him.

'There is now such a hole,' Judy told Proctor last Sunday at church about her life without Smith.

A man and his instrument: Paul Smith (before his diagnosis) began playing the trombone as a child

Smith and Judy had met in 2004 when she chatted up the musician at the Kendall United Methodist Church, where he attended and played trombone for the church's brass ensemble.

She asked Smith if he would be willing to teach her son, Wade Morgan Judy, how to play the trombone and a romance was soon born. The couple became engaged in 2007.

They decided to marry despite Smith's cancer diagnosis at the Methodist church where they met, in a ceremony filled with music.

Members of the University of Miami Frost School of Music’s trombone choir performed for the marriage ceremony - as did the bride's son, showing off the fruit of Smith's tutelage over the years.

To play the trombone and live with Smith was 'like having a lesson 24/7,’ Wade told the Miami Herald.

'He’d hear something I was doing from the other end of the house and come in and work with me for a few minutes. It was kind of neat to have that,' he said.

Smith, a native of Lincoln, Nebraska, cultivated his love for music at a young age.

'Paul started piano in third grade,' his mother, Ann Marie Smith, said, adding that he started on the trombone in the fifth grade.

'There was never any doubt he was going to be in band.'

He played in the band all during high school and went on to earn a music degree from DePaul University and a master's in music from the University of Victoria.

He spent much of his career on the road, touring with big band legends and performing on cruise ships.

Settling in Florida in 1997, he joined the faculty program at the high school - teaching marching band, symphonic band, concert band and jazz band at the high school.

'Students were devastated by the news,' Robert Longfield, chairman of the performing Arts Department at Miami Palmetto Senior High School, told the MailOnline about Smith's death.

'He was a respected and loved member of the staff,' he continued, describing how there has been an outpouring of emotion in response to his death.

'Flowers have been placed by the band room door, notes of remembrance have been left on the wall, alumni have returned to pay their respect, it has brought everyone together,' he said, adding, 'He impacted the lives of so many students.'

As an active member of the community, he played in the church orchestra and brass ensemble, an R&B cover band called Mystery Tones and he also served as a Boy Scout assistant troop leader.

Smith is survived by his wife, son and mother, a brother David and a sister Caitlyn.

His funeral will be held on Saturday at Kendall United Methodist Church, a sad departure from the previous celebration. The University of Miami Frost School of Music’s trombone choir, which had played for Smith's wedding this month, is expected to perform at his funeral.

In love: Friends and family cheered on Paul and Lisa at their wedding reception

Mr and Mrs Smith: The couple smile at their October 6 marriage ceremony but the bride will return on Saturday to the same church where they wed to bid farewell to her husband

Legacy: Paul Smith passed on his love of music to Wade Morgan Judy (pictured at the October 6 wedding), who received trombone lessons as a child from the man who would later marry his mother

Listen to the Palmetto High School Jazz Band, Directed Paul Smith, Play in March 2011

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High school band director dies of fast moving cancer just days after his wedding